Ryker lunged towards Ella at full speed, swinging his axe in a downward arc with the momentum of his acceleration. Frost converges in her hand, quickly condensing into the form of an ice sword.
Both blade and axe clashed repeatedly, a screeching sound reverberating with each collision of attacks. "Hahaha! Not bad, Ella, as expected from the one who is destined to become my wife." While laughing heartily, he sent her a gaze filled with both admiration and longing.
"…" Feeling his gaze on her Ella kept her silence with an uncomfortable expression. She continued to swing her sword, deftly warding off each of his blows and diverting the trajectory of his axe off course. A screeching sound resounded each time their weapons clashed.
Ella as far as she remembered she had never once wielded a sword, or any other weapon. But strangely enough, she wielded her ice sword with perfect mastery, like that of a veteran swordsman.
Where did this all started? 'It's probably because I've been having those strange dreams since recently.' She thought to herself as she parried Ryker's diagonal strike.
In those dreams she would always see the same scenery, both familiar yet unfamiliar to her.
There was a gorgeous castle made from the purest of ice and seated on an ice throne was a beautiful silver-haired woman. Ella couldn't see the face or appearance of that woman.
Whenever she tried to make out her features her vision would suddenly become blurry and distorted. It was as if seeing her was a taboo.
All she could make out was her eyes and some details of her long hair. The presence and pressure of that woman who looked down on the world from the highest point with the bearing and majesty of a true queen, or rather a goddess was filled with an air of superiority and indifference, as if nothing could move her.
Each time she slept she would be greeted by that same person again, cloaked in both ice and snow like she was the personification of winter. Once she woke up, she would have some vague memories she knew nothing about and techniques she couldn't use before. Even her knowledge of her ice skills was those from what she had learnt from her dreams.
'Just who was that woman?' Such thoughts continued to race through her head. But at this moment, Ryker's continuous attack changes in pattern, he circled to her rear and swung at her again. There was enough forced behind his attack to heavily injured a human before their evolution, but an evolved human would likely get away with only a minor wound.
Despite that, Ella had no intention of taking his attack head on, with a stomp of her feet, a block of ice protruded from the ground, shielding her from the blade of his axe.
However, as his axe screeched against the side of the block of ice, Ryker closed the distance between them with a wide horizontal swing, using the centrifugal force to empower his strike.
"Ngh." Ella groans as she felt the force of his swing, she was finally forced to step back to lessen the force of the blow.
Unfortunately, by doing that she had lost her balance briefly, and Ryker wasn't about to let go of that moment of weakness.
Deciding to end the match with a decisive blow, he lunges towards her with his axe clad in magical energy.
But Ella's indifferent expression didn't falter from his incoming attack. With a swift, seemingly casual movement, she held out her hand, cold air ripples as icy mist gathered before her outstretched palm.
Bang!
What came immediately after was the sound of heavy impact followed by the crackling of something breaking.
"Hmph. So, you even manage to block that, huh."
His axe rebounded as it slammed against the ice shield Ella had constructed. Ella's eyes narrowed slightly, she had used a considerable amount of mana into reinforcing its durability, making it nearly unbreakable.
However, the blunt force of the blow had formed visible cracks on the surface.
'That magical axe, could it be a mystical grade weapon from the Akashic records? W-Wait, Akashic records, what's that and why… Why do I know of such things?' Ella's expression twisted in doubt; at this moment she seems very confused. There was a faint shadow covering her face.
"Heh, Ella is it wise for you to be getting distracted now? After all, I'm not done yet!" He exclaimed, swinging his axe repeatedly against the ice shield.
More cracks gradually marked the surface of the ice shield as he kept up his repeated attacks.
"Hmph, know your place. Encase all who come near in ice, let them tremble before the encroaching air of winter." Her eyes became frosty as a whirlwind of cold air swelled from her body, covering a vast distance.
Ryker was unable to move out of the range of the cold air in time and his body became stiff from the sudden drop in temperature. Bits of frost gradually covered his skin, encasing him in thick layers of ice, at this moment he seems no different from a statue of ice.
The runes written on the walls became active, it promptly sealed off the battle area with magic barrier of a high grade, shielding the spectators from the whirlwind of ice and snow.
"Oh, such precise control of magic power. As expected, Lady Ella will be the victor, like always."
"Of course, the Elster family are known for their impressive mastery over the ice element. Ella is naturally revered highly as the most outstanding genius of this generation."
The students all stared at Ella's gallant figure wrapped in a whirlwind of ice and snow passionately. Their eyes burn with heated light.
The movement of Ella and Ryker was sharp and fluid, usually Carson would have a difficult time keeping up with their high-speed movements, but now his eyes could follow them easily.
"Can you see their exchange of combat?" Luna who stood at his side question him while peering into his face. It seems she also found it strange, or perhaps unexpected that he could follow the movement of two evolve humans exchanging blows so rapidly which should've been impossible for an unevolved human.
"… Yes, I can vaguely make out their rapid movements." He answered honestly. He wasn't lying, although he could see their movements slightly better due to his improved body and stats, his senses still could not completely follow their flowing movements.
'Ella in particular, her stats must be really high.' He concluded. Although Ryker kept attacking her persistently, she easily warded off his blows with minimal effort. There was no wasted movement in her precise blows.
'Do you know why you can't read her stats, Evangeline?' Carson was naturally very curious about this. As Evangeline was an existence who had followed the God of Chaos in the past, it's strange how she was having trouble seeing through a single evolved human.
[Unable to find answer… The individual "Ella Elsher" has hidden her stats intentionally.]
'Can someone do that? How exactly did she do something like hiding her stats, I'm also curious how she has access to the stats window at all.'
[All evolvers have access to their stat's windows through the Akashic records system.] She explained bluntly.
'Eh, it's not something unique to the God of chaos?'
[Of course not. I'm merely an artificial intelligence created by analysing the Akashic record. You can see me as nothing more than a small piece of the real system. And even I don't have complete access to the Akashic records boundless knowledge.] Evangeline explains in an exasperated tone.
Carson had originally thought that Evangeline who had accompanied the God of Chaos was a superior existence in the universe. It seems she was slightly taken aback by his level of cluelessness. Sensing that, his lips twitched.
'I get it, so you're merely an imitation of the real Akashic records… Then how does an evolver gain access to the real system?'
[By establishing a strong spiritual link with the Akashic records. All existence regardless of race are connected to the Akashic records. One can only access its basic functions like checking their stats once that link has been established.]
The akashic records is omnipresent and omni reaching. As long as it's somewhere within the multiverse it could reach its target without fail. If someone calls for it, it will naturally respond to them.
Although it was currently unknown if there was some kind of higher existence manually controlling the Akashic records to interact with the residents of the multiverse, or if there was some kind of will present within the Akashic records, it's generally impossible to hold a natural conversation with the system to inquire about such information.
The Akashic records only respond to those checking their stats window, or whenever it announces their progression, levels and further evolution. It would generally respond to evolvers in the form of written messages; there was no voice unlike Evangeline who speaks directly to Carson. This was something the Goddess of Creation did intentionally since it was inconvenient to read mid battle.
'And Ella had already established a firm connection to the Akashic records, then?' Carson tilted his head. It's not just Ella; there are likely a lot of other evolvers who had similarly established a firm connection to the Akashic records.
'But if that were the case it was strange…' It was strange how news of its existence hasn't been spread around yet. Carson furrowed his brow. As he was lost in thought, a change happened on the battle arena.
Ryker's body was slowly getting frozen into a block of ice. He couldn't feel the lower half of his body as it was frozen solid. It wouldn't be long until his upper half would also join his lower half and turn to solid ice.
Seeing him in that state, Ella's glossy lips curved up into a faint smile. "Tch, like hell I'm going out like this!" He gritted his clattering teeth as determination filled his eyes. Suddenly, he erupted with magical power.
His mussels swelled as his body grew roughly two meters in height.
He had activated his skill, "Tyrant stamped" It was a skill that increases his strength stats and defensive stats six-points per minute. While lowering his agility stats by five points.
With his increased strength, he easily shattered the ice clinging to his body and charged towards Ella like a rampaging bull.
"Amazing, his physical strength has increased so much." Carson murmured in astonishment.
Ella furrowed her brow, barely evading each of his attacks. Despite his lower agility stats, his movements were still quick enough to make evasion difficult.
Furthermore, his attacks were now difficult and unpredictable to follow with the eyes. 'I suppose I should end this match.' She thought to herself as she evades Ryker's attack, his punches packed enough force to shatter the bones, but Ella's agility and light footwork made it difficult for him to attack properly in this state.
Slowly, Ella's rosy lips began to move, as if whispering some kind of incantation. But strangely, no one could hear her. Carson frowned as he felt a slight ache for a moment, and suddenly—?
There was a thud, Ryker collapsed face first with his axe broken, Ella had not moved from her spot as she gazed down at him indifferently.
'Huh? Wh-What just happened?' Carson looked around him in confusion, surely he wasn't the only one clueless about what he had just seen?
The other students were gazing at Ryker's fallen body in confusion as well, even the instructor was blinking in utter confusion at the spectacle.
"Did he faint?" A young boy asked, as if trying to make sense of the situation. They all doubted their eyes.
From the perspective of everyone, they remember watching Ryker attacking Ella, and a second later, he had collapsed onto the ground. They didn't know what to make of it.
"Maybe his skill went out of control and overwhelmed him?" A young girl suddenly spoke up doubtfully. It was indeed possible for a superior human to be overwhelmed by their own skill, and it did indeed seem convincing, but…
"How does that explain his broken axe?" Another student pointed out. Ryker's axe had been broken in two halves, judging by the fractured pieces, it seems to have received a blunt blow. A skill going out of control wouldn't have any effect on a magical axe.
'Evangeline, do you know?' Carson asked, he was also very curious about what had just happened. From his perspective it seems as time had skipped forward, but he didn't think Ella had an ability to moved forward in time, he had a slight inkling it was something else.
[Analysis complete: It would appear the individual Ella, used some of technique to briefly halt time for a short period.] Evangeline explained simply.
'What?! She stopped time!' Evangeline's words left him speechless. That was natural, in fantasy stories he had read time related abilities were always the most broken and overpowered.
And now he had just learnt someone could actually manipulate time even if it was only for a short period, wasn't such an ability simply cheating?
[It would appear this technique does take a huge toll on the her spirit. Her magical energy is drastically diminished.] Evangeline suddenly added.
Indeed, although she was standing calmly in the same spot, Ella's breathing was rough and beads of sweat was trickling down her brow.
'Well it would be unfair if she could spam such an ability whatever she wants, but… Just who exactly is Ella?' Carson wondered to himself.
The only thing that he knew about her was that she was viewed as the most talented prodigy who had hailed from the Elsher family.
[....] For a moment it seems Evangeline wanted to say something, but chose to remained silent. Noticing that, Carson frownd and was about to say something, when—
"Next, Luna Gravemoon and Kenya Ashren, you two are next." Instructor Bernard announced the next practice match.
"Wish me luck." Luna said to Carson cheerfully as she headed to the arena.
"Yes, good luck." Carson waved her off with a smile. He didn't seem worried about her at all, believing she could take care of herself.
After Luna had arrived on the area, a youth carrying a spear also moved in front of her.
When he saw that Luna wasn't holding a weapon or a shield he sneered. "Are you sure you don't want to carry a shield?"
"No, I don't have any need for such things." Luna said softly, her bright, emerald eyes glowed with an even brighter hue as magic power revolved around her.
"Oh, then don't feel bad when I end up damaging that delicate body of yours." Kenya said, hurtling the spearhead towards her in at rapid speed.
He wasn't worried about accidentally killing her as the body of a superior human could not be pierced so easily, at best it would only graze her.
But Luna held out her hand, and the spear that was accelerating towards her lost its kinetic energy, its momentum slowing until it was hovering midair.
That was Luna's skill, "telekinesis" with a flick of her fingers, the spearhead shot back towards Kenya like a speeding bullet.